Toggle wrench



J. W. HEALY Nov. 6, 1956 TOGGLE WRENCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 20, 1955- 'Nov. 6, 1956 Filed Jan. 20, 1955 J. w. HEALY 2,769,359

TOGGLE WRENCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jams WHeaZ y, y M 9 75M flii or ze y United States Patent 2,769,359 TOGGLE WRENCH James W. Healy, Medford, Mass.

Application January 20, 1955, Serial No. 483,076

1 Claim. (or. 81-84) This invention relates to wrenches and more particularly to the type of wrench having a slidable jaw by which the jaw opening can be adjusted .to fit objects of various sizes.

The ordinary sliding jaw wrench, known as a monkey wrench, has a single handle carrying a fixed jaw, and a movable jaw mounted to slide on the handle toward and away from the fixed jaw, the position of the sliding jaw being adjusted by means of a worm and rack so that the jaw remains in any desired position. The chief advantage of this type of wrench is that the jaw faces always remain parallel and thus will grip opposite sides of a nut squarely, regardless of the size of the nut. The disadvantage is that the play in the worm drive does not allow any substantial pressure to be applied in tightening the jaws on a nut, so that the jaws tend to slip off and to deform the corners of the nut, especially on small nuts, which provide very little bearing surface.

A conventional pair of pliers consists of a pair of pivoted handles each carrying a jaw. This arrangement allows considerable pressure to be applied to the jaws, but the jaw faces are parallel only in a certain position, and thus will grip squarely on only a single size of nut. Also, the jaw portions, forward of the fulcrum, are made considerably shorter than the handles, to provide the desired mechanical advantage. Consequently, the handles must be swung wide :apart for gripping large objects, and the tool is not easy to manipulate with one hand. The object of this invention is to produce a wrench which combines the advantages of a conventional monkey wrench and a pair of pliers, in that the jaws remain substantially parallel over a wide range of adjustment yet considerable pressure can be applied to hold the jaws on the nut, and which has the further advantage that only 'a limited travel of the handles is necessary so that the tool can be easily operated with one hand. Other advantages and novel features will be apparent from the description which follows.

The wrench consists in general of a pair of pivoted handles, one of which carries a slidable jaw and the other of which is connected by a toggle linkage to a rotatable jaw. The latter is journalled on the handle which carries the sliding jaw and has a very limited travel, the size of the jaw opening being adjusted by movement of the sliding jaw.

In the drawings illustrating the invention:

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in cross-section, of a wrench constructed according to the invention, showing the jaws in relaxed position;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the wrench showing the jaws in tightened position;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the wrench;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section along line 44 of Fig. 2; and

*Fig. 5 is a cross-section along line 55 of Fig. 2.

The handles and 11 are pivoted to swing with respect to each other on a pin 12 and provide hand grip areas 10a and 11a toward their right hand ends. Handle 10 is dished on the under side to fit down around handle j 2 11 when the handles are pressed together, as in Fig. 2. Handle 11 is extended to form a base 13 for the sliding jaw on the left-hand side of the fulcrum pin 12. This base has an opening 14 in which the worm 15 which drives the sliding jaw is mounted. The rack 16, which mes-hes with worm 15, slides in a slot 17 in the base and carries the jaw 18.

Handle 10 is extended to form a short arm 19 to the left of the fulcrum pin. This arm is connected by a pin 20 to a link 21. Mounted on a lug 22 on base 13 is a pin 23 which rotatably connects a jaw body 24 to the base. This body carries a jaw 25 which cooperates with the sliding jaw in somewhat the same manner as the usual fixed jaw on a monkey wrench. Link 21 is connected to jaw body 24 by a pin 26. The jaw body has a central groove 27 at the rear in which link 21 rides freely, and also a slot 28 to accommodate the upper end of rack 16.

It is clear from the construction of the wrench that, when the handles are pressed together, jaw body 24 will be rotated counterclockwise (as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2) about pin 23, thus moving jaw face 25a toward jaw face 18a, and that, when the handles are moved apart, the jaw body will be rotated clockwise to move jaw face 25a away from jaw face 18a. The clockwise travel of the jaw body is limited by the engagement of the lower end of link 21 with the back of lug 22. The walls of jaw base 13 to either side of slot 17 have sloping upper surfaces 2% and 30 which engage the under surfaces 31 and 32, respectively, of jaw body 24 on either side of slot 28, to limit the counter-clockwise travel of the jaw body. When the jaw body is in its extreme counterclockwise, or closed position, jaw faces 25a and 18a lie exactly parallel. As the total travel of the jaw body is very small, the faces are only slightly out of parallel when the jaw body is in its extreme clockwise, or open position, as shown in Fig. 1. I

The tool is used in the following manner. With the handles open, jaw 18 is adjusted by means of Worm 15 so that the jaw faces engage the nut or other object on which the wrench is to be used. Preferably the engagement is a little looser than would be normal for a conventional monkey wrench. On a hexagonal nut, for example, a monkey wrench is usually made as tight as possible, and it is difiicult to free the jaws from one pair of parallel sides on the nut and apply them to another pair, as must frequently be done because of space limitations in turning the handle. It is usually necessary to loosen and readjust the sliding jaw, an operation which is time consuming and requires two hands. This wrench can be adjusted so that the jaws are loose enough, when the handles are apart, to allow the jaws to be shifted easily from one pair of sides to another pair on the nut. Nevertheless, when the handles are squeezed together the jaws will engage the nut tightly. This shift can be easily made with one hand as the travel of the handles is relatively small, and worm 15 need not be readjusted each time. Preferably the jaw opening should be adjusted so that the jaws engage the nut when jaw 25 is slightly out of its fully closed position. Considerable pressure can then be applied to the jaws by pressing the handles together. Because of the fact that so much pressure can be applied, the wrench can be used endwise on a nut, in the manner of pliers, as well as sidewise, in the manner of a monkey wrench, and thus lends itself to use in locations inaccessible to the latter.

What is claimed is:

A wrench comprising a first handle and a second handle connected together for relative rotation about a common fulcrum, a jaw base fixed to said first handle, a first jaw slidably mounted on said base, a second jaw connected to said base and rotatable thereon toward and away from said first jaw, the latter being slidable toward Patented Nov. 6, 1956 and away from said second jaw, a stop member disposed to limit the travel of said second jaw toward the first, said jaws having opposed faces and said stop member being disposed to stop the second jaw in a position in which the jaw faces are substantially parallel, and an arm attached to said second handle, a link having a first swivel connection with said arm and a second swivel connection with said second jaw, said arm and link being disposed to rotate said second jaw toward the first when the handles are pressed together, and said swivel connections and said fulcrum lying substantially in a straight line when said jaws are parallel.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Burnell June 6, 1922 Robinson Feb. 17, 1925 Butt Sept. 6, 1927 Geddes Mar. 22, 1938 Westman Oct. 3, 1950 Kelly Nov. 11, 1952 Lisota Mar. 22, 1955 

